Vehicle Wraps / Decals

9 years ago

Generally speaking, it is a very expensive way to reach a very small audience.

After the cost of the wrap, you have to take into account the cost of the vehicle, gas, labor, insurance.

Then there is the opportunity cost. What stronger mediums are you sacrificing to be viewed by the people immediately adjacent to your vehicle? And how many of those people are even paying attention?

The only way I would consider it is if I had a very local business, and an employee that already did a lot of local driving in a company car.

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triggerbig

9 years ago

Originally Posted by Jack Gordon

Generally speaking, it is a very expensive way to reach a very small audience.

After the cost of the wrap, you have to take into account the cost of the vehicle, gas, labor, insurance.

Then there is the opportunity cost. What stronger mediums are you sacrificing to be viewed by the people immediately adjacent to your vehicle? And how many of those people are even paying attention?

The only way I would consider it is if I had a very local business, and an employee that already did a lot of local driving in a company car.

Exactly. It's going to cost a lot of money for a full wrap. Just putting a name on a fleet vehicle that is always on the road is a more intelligent decision.

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NenosPlace

9 years ago

Thanks for that response, I fit that criteria pretty well as my Op is kinda local meaning I have a store for my product for the locals that is. I live in a highly populated area and travel daily between two major cities so again, liked your response.

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Chris Grable 9 years ago

I would be interested in the tax implications of this idea. I have heard folks claim that it makes every mile the car is driven a deductible expense.... likewise I have heard the contrary. Have never cared enough to research it myself but if you dig that deep into it... I hope you come back and share!

Thanks,
chris
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daniyal100

9 years ago

its solely for brand awareness, can't be use for anything else effectively.

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Chris Grable 9 years ago

Originally Posted by daniyal100

its solely for brand awareness, can't be use for anything else effectively.

Why do you say that? My wife use to sell candles. I had a magnetic sign on my truck. We got orders from two states away because someone saw it parked in a lot (an example)....

Admittedly we didn't get a lot of business from the sign... but it was only a small sign on the door and we are only talking about candles.

It would seem like the right message in the right places would have some affect.

chris
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- savidge4 9 years ago
  
  The first thing to remember is if you live in the states and pay taxes anything that is "advertising" related is a 100% write off.. so why wouldn't you?
  
  Branding is of course a part of it.. every large corp that has a fleet.. each and every vehicle is decaled. UPS, FED EX, Stanley Steamer, DirecTv, and a host of many others.
  
  In my Satellite business we hear "I saw your truck" on a pretty regular basis. I would say that a decent amount of time we hear "I see your truck at me neighbors" So I can first hand say that it does work.
  
  Change up your parking habits a bit you can get your message out pretty decent. In smaller parking lots I look to back in and get the end spot nearest a busy road. In peoples drive ways it is "company policy" to park towards the entrance of the drive way. ( again to leave the back end close to the street and more visible )
  
  ALWAYS remember to use your turn signal and never overly speed. It absolutely amazes me how often we get calls of this nature. We then politely thank the caller and remind them it is illegal in our state to be making calls and driving at the same time! LOL
  
  A decent wrap in most communities is what $2000+ its worth every penny in the long run!
  
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NenosPlace

9 years ago

Great responses, I appreciate each and everyone of them.

Thanks
NenosPlace

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Freebiequeen1999

9 years ago

Another reason for this....I live in an area where some (nicer) communities have the most strict zoning laws....like one suburb made news when it refused the golden arches - first McD's without them

another place demands a "wild west' look - rodeo . country western fans love it

another small city demands a semi Spanish old Florid (Mizner) style of facade in biz area

some rules are - NO neon....NO outdoor "standing" signs...NO human sign wavers....no Mannequin sign wavers....even restrictions on signs in window

and there is yet another high end suburb ....only one community not gated ...
and it requires shopping center set way back, kind of blend into the landscape.

now....what some do here is - wrap wrap wrap....and it makes sense

one of the areas won't allow trucks parked but they wrap little cars and put them out
neon green or pink are popular

moral of the story - where there is a will there is a way

now ...we have some not as strict areas with waving banners, neon signs and they don't need this as much

but - in a restricted suburb or shopping center? I say go for it

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NenosPlace

9 years ago

I also run a pretty successful website for the last 10 years so not only does my Product work locally with the Vehicle advertising, my list from my niche takes me and my product all over the country (USA). Soon as my designs are ready from the designer I will place picks. Thanks again for the reply's.

Neno

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NewParadigm

9 years ago

brilliant!

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bbminded

9 years ago

A vehicle wrap can get 30,000 to 70,000 impressions per day. One of the most effective forms of all(online and offline) advertising, with one of the best ROI's!

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NenosPlace

9 years ago

Originally Posted by bbminded

A vehicle wrap can get 30,000 to 70,000 impressions per day. One of the most effective forms of all(online and offline) advertising, with one of the best ROI's!

Thanks and I agree whole heatedly. I actually travel a highway daily that easily sees a million plus commuters. I am real excited to get this done. Spent the last time visiting Warriors till now setting up my plans for a booth at our home town "Farmers Market", designing banners for hanging and standing. My designer is and has started on the vehicle artwork. I will post when I get it all done. My Temporary decals are just not as impressive but, they do get me the TAX WRITE OFF!

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NenosPlace

9 years ago

Originally Posted by NenosPlace

Thanks and I agree whole heatedly. I actually travel a highway daily that easily sees a million plus commuters. I am real excited to get this done. Spent the last time visiting Warriors till now setting up my plans for a booth at our home town "Farmers Market", designing banners for hanging and standing. My designer is and has started on the vehicle artwork. I will post when I get it all done. My Temporary decals are just not as impressive but, they do get me the TAX WRITE OFF!

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longrobnc

9 years ago

Originally Posted by bbminded

A vehicle wrap can get 30,000 to 70,000 impressions per day. One of the most effective forms of all(online and offline) advertising, with one of the best ROI's!

I disagree 100%. I own a local brick and mortar business and I paid $3800 to have the sides and back of my $50k box truck wrapped. I got over 425 leads last month and not a single one came from the truck wrap. Actually, the wrap has been on the truck for 6 months and I don't think it has pulled 3 leads. Sorry to disagree, but it has not proven effect for us.

Btw, this truck travels thousands of miles a month, sun up to sun down 5 days a week, in a city with well over 1m people. It also sits next to a main road when not in use.

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savidge4

9 years ago

Originally Posted by longrobnc

I disagree 100%. I own a local brick and mortar business and I paid $3800 to have the sides and back of my $50k box truck wrapped. I got over 425 leads last month and not a single one came from the truck wrap. Actually, the wrap has been on the truck for 6 months and I don't think it has pulled 3 leads. Sorry to disagree, but it has not proven effect for us.

Btw, this truck travels thousands of miles a month, sun up to sun down 5 days a week, in a city with well over 1m people. It also sits next to a main road when not in use.

I get what you are saying. and in no way am I going to dis agree with you. However, how can you measure the branding effect? Does the logo on your truck match the logo on your site? Does the name on the truck match the name that you use in print media and direct mailing?

Its that subliminal... "Oh Ive seen that name before" that can create the lead, and start the ball rolling on what we all call a conversion.

Not to be a piss ant here. but you spent $3800 for a billboard and it as you suggest is not bringing ROI. Did you test the message before you went with it? I have a few vehicles on the road. I actually use a separate trackable phone number for my vehicle advertising. I can tell you first hand I get results.

For the most part I only decal my vehicles windows. The reason being is I change the message from time to time. Offers change Companies that I want to promote as a primary change. My window decals change accordingly. There are messages that work, and there are those that don't so well.

I have a feeling you have more than one of these billboards / box trucks. How much is a lead worth to you? a side from the fact that the $3800 expense is a 100% write off how many leads would be needed to get 100% return on investment.. let alone the life time ( 5 years or so ) of the residual effect.

Seriously.. what is the best direct mail piece you have ever run? Image and message on your truck.. is that what is on there now? Start with something a bit smaller, your pickups, your personal vehicle what ever. develop a method to track it, get the message right.. get it converting, THEN wrap the big boy.

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longrobnc

9 years ago

Originally Posted by savidge4

I get what you are saying. and in no way am I going to dis agree with you. However, how can you measure the branding effect? Does the logo on your truck match the logo on your site? Does the name on the truck match the name that you use in print media and direct mailing?

Its that subliminal... "Oh Ive seen that name before" that can create the lead, and start the ball rolling on what we all call a conversion.

Not to be a piss ant here. but you spent $3800 for a billboard and it as you suggest is not bringing ROI. Did you test the message before you went with it? I have a few vehicles on the road. I actually use a separate trackable phone number for my vehicle advertising. I can tell you first hand I get results.

For the most part I only decal my vehicles windows. The reason being is I change the message from time to time. Offers change Companies that I want to promote as a primary change. My window decals change accordingly. There are messages that work, and there are those that don't so well.

I have a feeling you have more than one of these billboards / box trucks. How much is a lead worth to you? a side from the fact that the $3800 expense is a 100% write off how many leads would be needed to get 100% return on investment.. let alone the life time ( 5 years or so ) of the residual effect.

Seriously.. what is the best direct mail piece you have ever run? Image and message on your truck.. is that what is on there now? Start with something a bit smaller, your pickups, your personal vehicle what ever. develop a method to track it, get the message right.. get it converting, THEN wrap the big boy.

My lead cost in direct mail is about $75. Online it's $40ish. I used my strongest consistent offer. I did not use my normal number. I used one of my callsource numbers. I wanted to test this closely to see if I'd get an ROI.

Honestly, I couldn't care at all about brand image. I have run millions of print impressions with no company name in the ads just to prove a point to an advertiser and my response rate did not drop at all. As far as write offs, all of my ad cost are written off that I can think of. Good idea to swap those window wraps, so that you can do some testing. Yes, I have over a dozen trucks, but those trucks only have a decal and phone number. I think there are 15 in all with door decals when I include sales guys. We log a crazy amount of miles. This is not a serious lead source by any stretch for us. Of the 500 leads that I'm projecting this month, I'll bet those 15 trucks pull less than 3 leads.

To each his own. Different business, different results.

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savidge4

9 years ago

Originally Posted by longrobnc

Honestly, I couldn't care at all about brand image.

All can say is WOW

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longrobnc

9 years ago

Originally Posted by savidge4

All can say is WOW

What really wows me is that small businesses go out of their way to brand their businesses. It's great if you gain some identity while creating profit producing leads, but I would never run an ad or spend a dollar to brand specifically.

One of my biggest competitors in the residential sector has a terrible reputation and use about 20 different DBA's in their print ads and have about 20 EMD websites to produce leads. All with different company names. They kick ass and change their name every 3-6 months. That told me all I needed to know about branding in my niche.

Recently, our industry publication released the average numbers breakdowns and margins for businesses my size in my same niche. My bottom line is 650% higher than the national average. Now, that's what should be drawing the Wows!

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savidge4

9 years ago

Originally Posted by longrobnc

What really wows me is that small businesses go out of their way to brand their businesses. It's great if you gain some identity while creating profit producing leads, but I would never run an ad or spend a dollar to brand specifically.

One of my biggest competitors in the residential sector has a terrible reputation and use about 20 different DBA's in their print ads and have about 20 EMD websites to produce leads. All with different company names. They kick ass and change their name every 3-6 months. That told me all I needed to know about branding in my niche.

If you look back at what I have said here, you would see I have not said word one about going out of your way to Brand. In fact the message that was given was to go out of your way to advertise more effectively using a smaller more cost effect "vehicle" ( in this case literally ) to test said message before spending the big dollars on the big boy.

Start reading between the lines just a touch and you might see some hints at what Branding is to me. Such as Consistent Message and Unified use of brand logo.

You have learned about branding from the example of a company with a bad reputation, and 20 different DBA's and 20 EMD's and believe that is the best course of action?

I would say that a solid brand with a solid reputation, with a solid and consistent message and decent blanket of advertising... will beat out a joker as you have mentioned. It wont happen tomorrow, it wont happen next week, it may not happen 5 years from now... but it will happen. Just remember, a referral skips the whole online process of finding a business like yours.

In the mean time... why not spend a bit of time in the local records department and dig up all the DBA's make all of the online associations and pin it back to a single point and send the whole package off to Google. They just love stuff like that.

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longrobnc

9 years ago

Originally Posted by savidge4

If you look back at what I have said here, you would see I have not said word one about going out of your way to Brand. In fact the message that was given was to go out of your way to advertise more effectively using a smaller more cost effect "vehicle" ( in this case literally ) to test said message before spending the big dollars on the big boy.

Start reading between the lines just a touch and you might see some hints at what Branding is to me. Such as Consistent Message and Unified use of brand logo.

You have learned about branding from the example of a company with a bad reputation, and 20 different DBA's and 20 EMD's and believe that is the best course of action?

I would say that a solid brand with a solid reputation, with a solid and consistent message and decent blanket of advertising... will beat out a joker as you have mentioned. It wont happen tomorrow, it wont happen next week, it may not happen 5 years from now... but it will happen. Just remember, a referral skips the whole online process of finding a business like yours.

In the mean time... why not spend a bit of time in the local records department and dig up all the DBA's make all of the online associations and pin it back to a single point and send the whole package off to Google. They just love stuff like that.

What I did learn from this company was very valuable. There are great lessons to be learned even from crooks. This isn't some small run of the mill outfit. They have about 100 offices nationwide and as I've learned have crazy clout with many national advertisers.

As far as compiling info, and sending it to Google. I have no time for such activities. They aren't breaking the law and I have no issue sticking to my own business plan and out hustling them. I will be rolling out other major cities shortly and taking much of their market share the same way I have in my home town.

As far as referrals, I get 50+ referrals a month. As I said before, I will never worry one moment with branding and I will continue to make money hand over fist the way I've done since I abandoned attempting to brand 5 years ago. I use the same logo, when I use one at all, but my message is always different because the offers are always evolving.

Thanks for the conversation, but preaching branding to me is futile. Your idea of branding means nothing to me. Good luck with that.

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savidge4

9 years ago

Originally Posted by longrobnc

As I said before, I will never worry one moment with branding and I will continue to make money hand over fist the way I've done since I abandoned attempting to brand 5 years ago. I use the same logo, when I use one at all, but my message is always different because the offers are always evolving.

5 years ago it didn't work.. that's what when you had 2 trucks on the road and just starting. that would be the worst time to "Brand" but here you are going regional. We will just say you are going big time. that's really great for you. NOW is the time that you would want to start looking at implementing some brand techniques.

Based on what you have written here I would be pretty sure in saying I am not so sure you understand what branding is. Your ever changing advertising message has nothing to do with branding. I BRAND, and I have stated I change my target and my message all the time. but there are constants on every piece of advertising be it my trucks, a sign, a mailer, whatever... there is branding.

You want to get a package across country by tomorrow.. how are you going to send it? THATS branding. You are going to do a search on the internet you are going to use? THATS branding. You just won the Super Bowl a gold medal or the World Cup.. where you going to go? THATS branding. You buy 2 tickets to a ball game, a couple hotdogs and some drinks, and a pennant and spend a great day with your son.. what's that? Aside from Priceless... THATS branding.

Branding is a BY PRODUCT of the actual function... the function is advertising your business to make people aware of and BUY the product or service that you offer. You slap that company name in front of people enough times.. you start crossing that line of what it is you do, and your company name being associated to it.

Branding is consistency and diligence, mixed in with what we hope to be a positive reputation. It takes time and tons of it. Its not something you tried 5 years ago.. its something that is ongoing and continual.

Don't get me wrong here, there ARE companies that do short term "Branding" specific campaigns. The most recent one is Sea World. Talking about how they love their animals, and the animals way of life is equal to out in the wild. Not word one on get tickets or visit Florida... The are straight up in Brand repair mode. ING.. who the hell are they? Their branding methodology is to create awareness of their stock. The more value their stock has the more they can borrow.. great long term strategy there. worked real well for AIG that uses the same strategy... even AFTER the bail out! LOL

The most recognized brand in the world, Apple... amazes me. They lead no industry they are in, in market share, and yet they are #1 in the WORLD. its iPad this, and iMac, iPhone that and iTunes this.. yet that little logo is recognized around the world. I mention this Brand in particular for one reason... A Classic if not the best example of how the placement of a Branded logo used in the advertising of all of these separate and different products since late 1976 can have such an effect.

Branding has nothing to do with the product or service. It has nothing to do with the advertising methods of the product or service. its about the COMPANY it represents.

I have in my time made some HUGE Branding mistakes. I have a knack for being short minded and looking to name my business' with location based names. This has a lot to do with the internet being my standard base of prospect development. Over the last 20 years, it has probably cost me millions.

Right now with my Satellite business... My state name is in my business name... wouldn't go over well advertising a WV based business in Ohio Or Pennsylvania or Virginia, or Kentucky. And at this point going on 8 years later.. its not worth it to me to drop my current name and start expansion. Im to old and that's to much work. BUT.. if it had started out brandable across state borders.. I would be larger than I am.

Im not preaching.. Im sharing. Im just showing that historically, branding used correctly does some pretty amazing things. Im pointing out there is actually no "Added" expense in doing so, so why wouldn't you? I'm sharing that long term business growth does require some amount of long term work. I think we all here want to think our business' are more than a flash in the pan and we are out. This is our livelihood, this is our future. Not following a pretty universal and simple principle in advertising isn't going to get you today.. but it will hurt in the long run.

Next time a Trademarked brown truck pulls into your driveway or parking lot... ask yourself why would they do that? It cost them no more or no less to paint each truck a different color.. hell, they could paint them all white. But they chose brown.. a brown they trademarked no less. THAT is branding

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rockingjohncarter

9 years ago

It's really expensive dear..

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bizgrower

9 years ago

I'm going to put my money where my mouth is very soon and read and implement, but for now all I can say is I saw Scott Degraffenreid, the author, speak live and I am sure his book is very, very good. He is a mathematician who turned to marketing and some of his clients were approaching a 1 to 1 referral ratio - essentially equal to a referral from each customer. (Some referred none, others referred more than one.)

Embracing the N.u.d.e. Model - The New Art and...

Along those lines, it worked to improve repeat and referral revenues in the long run, but I used to get in trouble for refunding meals, or giving a manager letter worth x amount appropriate to the boo boo. The owner would argue that he can't afford to refund $65, for example, not being aware that you are usually winning the customer and referrals back and only actually out the food costs (about 28% of the $65). Plus the savings of not spending whatever amount to get another customer.

We had signage on delivery vehicles at that restaurant, and we did get business from those vehicles. We also sometimes received phone calls about bad driving. Negative PR you don't want.

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Vehicle Wraps / Decals

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